Cultural relativism Essay

heathen relativism remains a controversial if not completely misconstrue concept in the world today. It is strange that people consider heathenish relativism a problem because to do so would hint at the imprint in cultural superiority or exceptionalism. It would seem that there is in addition a belief that variant from other refinements that are in competition to a separate culture yield a threat.Whether the threat is touchable is another matter because as long as i culture perceives a threat, then there will be a free-enterprise(a) response to such threat conceived. These days, cultural relativism has a bad personality in many quarters. It conjures images of a world where anything goes. According to this domino scheme of norms, if people open themselves to the possibility that other cultures may have valid, if different, ship commission of life, the next thing you know, theyll be doing it in the streets. (Rosaldo)Part of the reason for such distress at the notion of c ultural relativism is the fact that there is an intact belief held by many cultures that their system of beliefs, life, etc are the right way to live and that any type of culture that is different or perceptually opposite of the right way are wrong and need to be contained, altered or even saved from themselves. If there is no superior ethical standard, then often culture becomes the ethical norm for ascertain whether an action is right or wrong. This ethical system is known as cultural relativism.1 Cultural relativism is the view that all ethical impartiality is relative to a specific culture. Whatever a cultural separate approves is considered right within that culture. Conversely, whatever a cultural group condemns is wrong. (Anderson) An type of cultural relativism gone horrible wrong can be viewed in the untimely clashes amidst Europeans and Native Americans during the New World era of the early village of North America. To the Native Americans, humans were considered in harmony with nature and lived among the born(p) world.To the European mentality, there was the belief that the natural world needed to be tamed and cities needed to be built upon the land. To the Europeans, the Native earth moderationist ideology was unacceptable and needed to be removed. This was the basis of most of the early clashes that ultimately lead to massacres and genocidal campaigns. What is bizarre about this type of thought dish up is that it assumes there is an invisible line between cultures and that the world is not an comprehensive place of a multitude of cultures.It seems to believe that culture lasts only from one mindset or tradition and what is outside that tradition subscribes to chaos and disorder. First, the fancy of separate but equal cultures no longer seems accurate. Cultures are not separate they are not confined to their own individual museum cases. They exist side by side in the same space. Also, weve noticed that there are inequalities between cult uresrelations of dominance and subordination. Take, for example, settler colonialism, the system we had in America.Relationships formed in the colonial period and after created inequalities, which a act anthropologist would have to critique. (Rosaldo) So, from this we can infer that the concept of cultural relativism is a blemish notion and concept because it is based on a flawed predate of exclusiveness and ethnocentricity. In other words, to believe that cultural relativism exists is ridiculous because to margin call it exists would mean the subdivision of humanity as opposed to looking at humanity as members as the world as a livelong which is the natural order, an order only changed by human intervention knowing to suit specific needs.Bibliography Anderson, Kirby. (2004) Cultural Relativism. Retrieved 6 February 2007. http//www. inplainsite. org/html/cultural_relativism_. html Rosaldo, Renaldo. (2000) Of Headhunters and Soldiers Separating Cultural and Ethical Relativism Retrieved 6 February 2007. http//www. scu. edu/ethics/publications/ iie/v11n1/relativism. html